Comment: Boris Keep Your Promise
Monday, 10, Aug 2009 09:24
Boris Johnson's failure to meet his campaign promises is having devastating consequences for rape crisis provision in the capital.
By Matty Mitford
There is only one remaining Rape Crisis Centre in the whole of London. That's one small centre for 7.9 million people. One centre, 12 counsellors and a helpline open 5 hours a day. The waiting list for peak-time appointments is nearly a year and less than a quarter of calls to their helpline can be answered.
The WHO says that one in four women will be raped or sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Britain has the lowest rape conviction rate in Europe.
However, there is a ray of hope. During the run-up to his election, Boris Johnson promised to cut 20 per cent from City Hall's PR budget and give the resulting £744,000-a-year to Rape Crisis for at least four years. He promised to open three new centres and lobby the government for extra central funding. He was unequivocal and direct in his language: "Quite simply, we feel it is more important to fund Rape Crisis Centres than press officers."
He played the populist card: PR and spin are bad, funding Rape Crisis is good. The assertion, thinly veiled, was that his opponent cared about image and PR, but he cared about issues. That he was a genuine, straight up chap who would, in an old-fashioned Tory way, pare back the costs of those who cushion the State for the good of the voters. We were sold.
Move forward a year. Boris is forced to admit the £744,000 a year for Rape Crisis doesn't exist in his budget. He offers £233,000 a year. A cut in funding of nearly a million pounds over four years - not enough to keep one centre open, let alone fund three more. Boris had promised to "act immediately". In the year it takes him to reach this decision, rape and sexual assault in London has goes up by 14.8 per cent.
A howl of outrage ensues, causing embarrassment for the Mayor and, under enormous pressure, he eventually announces he has found £1.4 million for Rape Crisis.
The Mayor's PR team try to spin this as a great coup for London and a show of what a great Mayor Boris is. There is no mention of his original pledge and his manifesto is deleted from the internet. His spin tactics cause a rumble of support for us from media outlets - even hard-bitten journos, it seems, are uncomfortable with the idea of politicians trying to spin cuts for rape services.
A few weeks later, the Mayor announces £260,000 for the Croydon centre over the next three years. He also announces one new £350,000 centre for Ealing. Again, his office tries to spin this. Mr Johnson does not make the announcement himself, he sends Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse as a sacrificial lamb to the press.
One new centre is not enough. Boris' partial funding is not enough.
Perhaps if he had expressed regret at not being able to find the cash needed, rather than trying to make political capital out of vulnerable people, our cause wouldn't have gained such momentum.
As it stands, our pressure group (with a budget of zero) seems to be gaining the upper hand against the Mayor's expensive spin machine - ironically, the very spin machine that Boris promised he would cut back in order to fulfill his promise to fund Rape Crisis. Hopefully we and the other groups working on this issue will be able to force the Mayor into delivering on the promises which helped put him into office.
Boris, Keep Your Promise - we know you want to!
Matty Mitford is spokesperson for the Boris Keep Your Promise Campaign
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